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Despair as bleak as the wild that encompassed her reigned as she ground her knuckles against her sternum once more, begging for any sign of life. If Teddi was seriously hurt, if she didn’t wake up…Vera shook her head, refusing to let the thoughts take shape. All the years of pain and heartbreak, missing her, loving her when she couldn’t have her, would be for nothing. She should’ve told her. She should have told her that she still loved her and they would figure it out together.
With a curse, she reached into her pocket for her cell phone. Empty. Feeling her pockets quickly, she found each one without her lifeline. Looking down at Teddi she began searching her pockets, hands covered in blood. Rolling her hip gently, she felt around her back pockets, breathing a heavy sigh of relief when she felt the familiar rectangular shape.
“If you wanted to grab my ass, you could’ve just asked.”
Vera looked up, those grey eyes looking back at her.
“Oh my god.” She threw herself on top of her, squeezing desperately as she cried. “I thought… I thought you… ”
Teddi moaned painfully when she squeezed harder. “Can’t breathe.” Coughing, Teddi wrapped her hand around her waist, holding her weakly.
“Shit, sorry.” Pulling back, a heavy tear fell from her cheek, splashing against the dirt and blood-covered skin of Teddi’s neck.
“Hey, I’m ok.”
Vera bobbed her head up and down stiffly. “Ok, ok. You’re ok.” She ran her hands up and down Teddi’s arms, verifying for herself that there was life pumping inside. Her fear didn't abate with the reassurance. It became acute. “I thought you were dying.”
Teddi’s mouth fell open. “I thought I told you not to let me die out here.”
Vera shoved her before diving for another hug. “Go back to sleep.” She tucked her smile into Teddi's neck when she chuckled. Squeezing harder, she tried to calm the relief coursing through her. She was alive. She was ok.
“Not that I’m not loving this, but I can’t feel my backside it’s so cold.”
Reluctantly Vera pulled back, offering a hand to help her up and holding on for an extra second. “The top of your head bled pretty bad, but I think it stopped.” Streams of blood had run down her neck. It looked like the sacrificial rock in the glade. Vera looked away.
Mumbling she felt like she got a baseball bat to the brain, Teddi moved slowly. “Head wounds usually look worse than they are, I’ve just got a pounding headache.” Eyeing the blood running down Vera’s cheek, her eyes pinched. “You didn’t get out unscathed either.”
The sharp morning chill sunk through her clothing, her toes scrunching up in her boots to get some circulation in them. “I’m alright, just tired of people attacking me in this shit town.”
Teddi barked a rough laugh, rolling her shoulder back. “We got our asses handed to us, that’s for sure.”
“You think it was Gunson?”
Teddi leaned over gingerly, picking up her gun and flashlight as she gave a look that conveyed her surprise at them being there. Vera shrugged. “Don’t think so. It was two people. I heard two distinct sets of footsteps behind us. Saw a flash of something and then someone hit me from behind.”
“Same but he could have an accomplice. It’d make sense why he was able to subdue victims bigger than him.” Vera reasoned.
It made logical sense but the answer didn’t sit right. The muffled scream they heard last night sounded like a man. It could have been another victim of Gunson’s but the shack on his property looked more like a home invasion than premeditation.
“You alright to walk?” Hand on her elbow, she looked over the wound on her head once more. It didn’t appear deep but it bled like a geyser. She was ok. She was awake. Talking. Safe. On the heels of relief was a torrent of fury, like flames licking her skin, each one was a forked tongue. The need to find whoever spilled Teddi’s blood burned down to her marrow. She could name the now-familiar need.
Vengeance.
As she watched her straighten up, the blood staining her blonde hair, the washed-out skin of her face, she knew she would do anything to even the score. She wanted to do it. She’d destroyed her relationship with Ximena. Lost Alex. Lost her life in D.C. If one more person was going to be taken from her, they would be yanked out of her cold, dead hands.
Teddi began walking back the way they came. Not that there was a straight line to Gunson’s yard and their vehicle, but they headed south. The hazy sunrise filtered through the treetops guiding their direction. Vera watched her closely, checking for signs of weakness or fainting as she pulled up the rear. She shoved her trembling hands into her jacket pockets, clenching her fists around mud and blood.
They were so close. Whether to Gunson with another victim or the killers, they walked right inside an active kidnapping or murder.
“Now we know it’s at least two people at play,” Teddi said, knowing exactly where Vera’s thoughts were.
Finally reaching the edge of the forest, they both sagged in relief. They made it back to Gunson’s property, everything exactly as it was hours before.
“It makes sense now. Maller was too big for one person to easily handle. Let alone the fight that could have been in any one of the victims, regardless of size differences.” The number of people involved seemed to be growing, but the size of Sylen stayed the same. How they could have more than one serial killer in a town of two hundred, she couldn't compute. It was a statistical anomaly. The FBI wagered there was an average of twenty-five to fifty active serial killers across the country at any given time. To have two in a town so small was beyond unusual.
“Check the windows, let’s see if Mrs. Gunson is home yet.” The same lights from the night before were still on. Peering inside the window next to the back door, Vera saw no further signs of a struggle like the shed. Looking into their kitchen and dining room, everything was in its place, neat and orderly.
Letting her know she would check the front, Vera watched Teddi round the corner of the house. The second she was out of sight, she buckled, hands on her knees with a shuddering exhale. The fear she felt initially had burned to terror as her legs began to shake. She was in the crosshairs. She led Teddi straight into them and placed a target on her back. It was one thing for her to be attacked outside the motel alone. It was something else entirely to put Teddi in direct danger. To have even one debilitating second where she thought she was dead. She hung her head, the blood rushing to it making her wound pulse. It was a welcomed pain to the one ripping her chest apart.
